Railway-switch



N PEAT y RAILWAY SWITCH. No. 501,660.

Patented July 18, 1893.

EIVIJV WITNESSES `mwihmm:

. NELSON PHAT WM@ mm( l UNITED STATE-s PATENT OFFICE.

NELSON PEAT, OF COHOES, NEW YORK.

RAI LWAY-SWITC H SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No., 501,660, dated July 18, 1893.

' Application ned ocaberi, 1891. seria1n0-4of/,44a (Nomad.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, NELSON PEAT, of Cohoes, in the county of Albany, in the State of New York, have invented new and usefullmprovements in Railway-Switches, of which the following is a specification.

My .invention relates to improvements in switches for railway tracks; and the obj ect of my invention is to provide means for operating the switch from the foot-board of a locomotive, or from the platform of a car. This objectI attain by the means illustrated in the accompanying drawings which, being herein referred to, form part of this specication, and in which` Figure 1 is a plan view of a railway track provided with my invention. Fig. 2 is an end elevation of the same on an enlarged scale, the locomotive-truck shown in Fig. 1 being omitted therefrom; and Fig. 3 isa transverse section--on an enlarged scale-at the line X X, of Fig. 1.

As represented in the drawings, A designates the track-rails of the direct line of the railway track, B the switch-rails, and C the side-track or turnout. The switch-rails B are pivoted, as at 1, to swing into contact with either of the track-rails A, but not with both of them at a time, and are connected together by means of rods, 2, so as to move as one piece. The swingingv ends of said switch-rails are connected by a tie-bar, D, which is connected-by a spring-connection, E-to a vertical crank-shaft, F, which is provided for the purpose of aiording the means for operating the switch by hand when occasion may require. The spring-connection E is formed of. the following parts: a rod, 3, jointed, as at 4, to the tie-bar D and having its opposite end loosely entering a socket, 5, which is jointed to the crank of the shaft F. Said socket has a cage, G, secured to the end thereof for the purpose of containing two springs, '7, which are separated from each other by means of a collar, S, which is secured to the rod 3; the outer end of each of said springs bears the corresponding head of the cage 6, so that when a strain is thrown upon the connection E, in either direction, one of said springs will form a yielding cushion that will permit the switch to be moved in the manner hereinafter described after the shaft F has been secured in a nonrotative condition. An arm, 9, is secured to the shaft F and is provided with a hasp, 10, which is jointed thereto, so as to extend outwardly for the purpose of serving as a handle for turning said shaft; said hasp is fitted to engage with a staple on the arc, 11, which forms part of the switch-lever frame Grof the ordinary construction, and when said hasp is engaged with the staple a lock can be inserted in said staple to hold the arm 9 immovable and thereby any rotative movement of the shaft F will be prevented.

H designates the switch-signals of an ordinary construction; preferably two of said signals are employedone at each side of the track-and each consists of a lantern and a target-mounted on the top of avertical shaft,

switch-rails B and is jointedly-connected to two operating levers, I and J, the first of which is pivoted, as at 16, to a tie-bar, 17, the other being pivoted` as at 18, to a tie-bar, 19, each of said pivots serving as a fulcrum for the lever to which it is appropriated. The operating lever I is provided with a head, 20, which lies between the track-rails A and moves in guides, 2l, fixed between said rails, and at the opposite ends of said head there is a friction-roller, 22, pivoted for a purpose hereinafter explained. The operating lever J is provided with a head, 23, which lies between the outer track-rail A and the outer rail of the side-track C, and said head is provided With three friction-rollers, 24, of which one of the outermost ones is arranged between the track-rails of the direct line, the other outermost one being between the outer rail of the side track C and the adjacent trackrail A, and the intermediate roller being between the last named rail and the part of the rail for the side-track which lies between the track-rails A. The jointed-end of each of the operating-levers is provided with a spring, 25, which bears upon the upper face of the respective levers to force the latter and the tiebar D down to their respective places when IOC tion.

raised as hereina-fterexplained. Tofthelower l side of the tie-'bar D, there are f-toggles, 26,` Whoseupperends are jointed to said tie-barand whose lower ends are jointed to a bed-piece, 27, in such manner that said toggles can have a swinging movement at 4oppositesides of ythe"A lower pivots of said toggles,"the springs 25 yielding suficiently to permit a slight lifting l movement of the tie-bar D, which "lifting movement is due to the curvature of the linej through which the upper pivots of said toggles have "their movement; the inclined 'posi-j tion of said toggles, at the terminationof each l phase of their movement, serves to retain the4 switch-rails in the required place according to the direction in which said switch-rails rf'have been moved. Y .j My invention is operated-in the following? manner: When a `railwaytrainisrapproaching a switch 'and the engineer ldiscerns fromr the :signals Il `th at lthe :switch-rails B =arenot fixed in t-heproper vposition-to:enalolehistrain to :proceed yin the reqnireddirection, suitablei mechanism '[(vnotshewn) A'is yoperated from the locomotive to contact -with 1thefriction-roller of 'thef'operating-ileverof the .s-witc'hlra-ils so as to move the latter 'in 'the qrequired direc-l :For exam-ple, let it 2be supposed *that ja train 'li-s 'movingin the fdir'eetion indicatediby thearrow in Eig. ift-he switch-rails l"being adju sted t'oicon-nec'tthe I direct 'li-newiith ft-hetufrnout. *lnlths lcase, the .m'echanfi'smiou the l'o-'` Ycornotive f'mnst be operated Ato-causiftto contac't ywith 'jt-he 'friction roller V24" which iis-on v-the corresponding -en'dof rthe head 23 'zb-y wh-ich means the operating `lever l will -be vswnn'gto ycarry 'the switch-rails finto the position `r'et qui-red `Vto'open th el directline rof tracks. i

My invention "can lbe used on street--rail-- the platform of the car; and for that purpose y the trucks of each car should be provided with suitable .mechanism for contacting with the respective friction-rollers.

- The switches and means for operating them "are substantially the same as those herein shown and described for railways where locomotives are employed.

What 'If'claim .as '.-my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. *In an automatically operating switch the combination with the switch rails having their swinging ends connectedby fa l'tie-balf, of the y operating lle-versfiflcnumedibetween thezt'raek rails and havingtheiri-nn'erfendspivotally secured I'to said itiei'ba-rfand lthefoppositefends providedwith-armswoiilninginsuitablefguides, and having mounted thereon lrollers ywhich proj ect slightly ,iabove the iup'per faces Eof the track -rails,' substantially yas described.

2. In'anfautomaitically'operatingswitchjthe combination 'with fthe switch-rails, h'aving their swinging yends :connected 5by 4a tie-bar, of vthe'operating 'levers iiu`lo1'mned `bet-Ween the @track-*rails .and having fth'ei'r irl-ner ends pivotally 1secured fto the Vsaid l:t'ieilo'aig and fthe opposite ends provided with arms entendi-'ng at rightfangles fto their ffulcrumed fpor'tions and provided with `*rol-1ers Vprojecting Jaibov-e thempperufacesbf thetrackera'ls, and :guides inwhich .the said arms-Work, substantially as described.

NELSQN Witnesses:

WM. tLeav, S. iB. BREWER. 

